# Lewis Duncan > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Lewis_Duncan > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Lewis_Duncan.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Duncan > Source revision: 1357050581 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Canadian politician and lawyer (1892–1960)}} {{Infobox person |image = Photograph of James Lewis Duncan (d. 1960) (10874853953).jpg |birth_name = James Lewis Duncan |birth_date = 1892 |birth_place = [Toronto, Ontario](/source/Toronto), Canada |death_date = {{death date and age|1960|4|8|1892}} |death_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada |occupation = Lawyer |alma_mater = [University of Toronto](/source/University_of_Toronto) }} '''James Lewis Duncan''' (1892 – 8 April 1960) was a [Canadian](/source/Canadians) politician and lawyer. == Early life == Duncan was the son of a physician and grandson of a Presbyterian minister. He studied at the University of Toronto and in Paris and won a silver medal as a student at [Osgoode Hall Law School](/source/Osgoode_Hall_Law_School).{{cite news|title=Lewis Duncan: Peppery Career In Politics, Law|newspaper=The Toronto Daily Star|date=1960-04-08|location=Toronto|page=2}} He fought in the [First World War](/source/World_War_I) at the [Somme](/source/Battle_of_the_Somme), [Vimy Ridge](/source/Battle_of_Vimy_Ridge) and [Passchendaele](/source/Battle_of_Passchendaele). He was appointed military administrator of occupied [Bonn, Germany](/source/Bonn%2C_Germany) and ended the war with the rank of [Major](/source/Major_(rank)). == Career == Returning to Canada he was appointed chair of a Fair Price Commission on milk, wrote a book on bankruptcy law and sat on a [royal commission](/source/royal_commission) investigating farm fraud in [British Columbia](/source/British_Columbia) and helped write Canada's [Combines Investigation Act](/source/Combines_Investigation_Act).{{cite news |date=1960-04-09 |title=Lewis Duncan: Fiery Career Stirred Courts and Councils |page=44 |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |location=Toronto}} In the 1930s, [Ontario Hydro](/source/Ontario_Hydro) retained Duncan for a two-year investigation, leading him to be criticized by the Ontario Premier [Mitchell Hepburn](/source/Mitchell_Hepburn) for charging $17,000 in legal fees. Duncan was expelled from the ruling [Ontario Liberal Party](/source/Ontario_Liberal_Party) and responded by comparing Hepburn to [Adolf Hitler](/source/Adolf_Hitler) and Hepburn called Duncan "a rat." He was elected to [Toronto City Council](/source/Toronto_City_Council) in the 1930s and ran for [Mayor of Toronto](/source/Mayor_of_Toronto) in 1939 but was defeated by [Ralph C. Day](/source/Ralph_C._Day) by a margin of 39,000 votes and again in 1940 by only 4,000 votes. He returned to city council as a member of the [Board of Control](/source/Board_of_Control_(municipal_government)) in 1941 topping the polls in the election for the four-person executive body (the Mayor sat ''ex officio'' as the Chairman) and sat on the body until 1944. As Vice-Chairman of the Board of Control, Duncan charged the city with being run as a family compact and accused the [Toronto Transit Commission](/source/Toronto_Transit_Commission) of not disclosing its books. Duncan also started a major investigation in 1942 when he charged that a child receiving [relief](/source/welfare_spending) had died of malnutrition. Duncan ran as a [federal Liberal](/source/Liberal_Party_of_Canada) candidate for the [House of Commons of Canada](/source/House_of_Commons_of_Canada) in the [1940 election](/source/1940_Canadian_federal_election) in the [Danforth electoral district](/source/Danforth_(electoral_district)). He was defeated in a two-way race against [Conservative](/source/Conservative_Party_of_Canada_(historic)) [Joseph Henry Harris](/source/Joseph_Henry_Harris). Duncan then joined the [Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (Ontario Section)](/source/Co-operative_Commonwealth_Federation_(Ontario_Section)), and ran again for Mayor of Toronto in 1944 but was defeated by [Frederick J. Conboy](/source/Frederick_J._Conboy) by 20,000 votes. He also ran in the [1945 Ontario election](/source/1945_Ontario_general_election) as the CCF's candidate in the [riding](/source/electoral_district_(Canada)) of [High Park](/source/High_Park_(provincial_electoral_district)) against [George Drew](/source/George_A._Drew), accusing him of being financed by "beer barons", but was defeated. He then challenged [Ontario CCF](/source/Co-operative_Commonwealth_Federation_(Ontario_Section)) [Ted Jolliffe](/source/Ted_Jolliffe) for the party's leadership, but was defeated by Jolliffe at the [1946 Ontario CCF convention](/source/1946_Ontario_Co-operative_Commonwealth_Federation_leadership_election) in [Hamilton, Ontario](/source/Hamilton%2C_Ontario).{{cite news|title=Says Jolliffe to keep helm: Duncan denies C.C.F. to change leaders|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0CM_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=-U8MAAAAIBAJ&dq=jolliffe%20and%20duncan&pg=3153%2C3724985|accessdate=2011-08-21|newspaper=The Windsor Daily Star|date=1945-04-23|author=Star Staff|location=Windsor, Ontario|page=13}}{{cite news|title=C.C.F. asks liquor votes|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rCY_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=XE8MAAAAIBAJ&pg=3849%2C2860313|accessdate=2011-08-21|newspaper=The Windsor Daily Star|date=1946-12-12|author=Star Staff|location=Windsor, Ontario|page=19}} Duncan had a colourful reputation as a lawyer. He once challenged a Supreme Court justice to step out of his courtroom and repeat his statements in the hallway and was fined $2,000 in 1957 for "scandalizing the court" when he asked a Supreme Court justice to withdraw himself from a hearing without giving a reason.{{cite news|title=Lawyer's Demand Unprecedented: Jurist Challenged, Quits Case|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=1957-11-19|location=Toronto|page=1}} He never paid the fine but was barred thereafter from arguing cases before the Supreme Court. == Death == Duncan died aged 68, on 8 April 1960, when he [shot himself](/source/Suicide_by_firearm) in the washroom of a downtown Toronto department store. According to ''[The Globe and Mail](/source/The_Globe_and_Mail)'', Duncan was "long disturbed over the death of his only son, John, in the Second World War." ==References== {{Reflist}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Duncan, Lewis}} Category:Toronto city councillors Category:Lawyers in Ontario Category:1960 deaths Category:1892 births Category:Canadian Expeditionary Force officers Category:Suicides by firearm in Ontario Category:1960 suicides Category:Canadian politicians who died by suicide Category:20th-century Canadian municipal councillors --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Lewis Duncan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Duncan) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Duncan?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.